Charges Upgraded To Murder In Death Of 4-Year-Old Myls Dobson

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - Charges against the woman accused in the death of a 4-year-old boy at a Midtown high-rise last January have been upgraded to murder.

Kryzie King, 27, faces murder, assault, and attempted assault charges in the death of Myls Dobson. She pleaded not guilty.

King was originally charged with just assault.

According to prosecutors, King allegedly bound Dobson's hands and feet, struck him with an electrical cord and belt buckle, locked him outside on a patio in low temperatures, burned him with a hot oven rack and watched him starve, losing up to 20 pounds, all while he was in her care during three weeks in December.

Police responding to a 911 call at the Ritz Plaza building on West 48th Street on Jan. 8 found Myls burned, bruised, cut, emaciated and unconscious in the bathroom, prosecutors said. Dobson was pronounced dead at Roosevelt Hospital.

King initially told police she had put the boy on the bathroom counter and left the room briefly. Police said King told them Dobson fell and landed in the empty bathtub in her Midtown apartment.

The New York City Medical Examiner's office ruled the death a homicide in April.

"Myls Dobson was forced to suffer unimaginable pain in the last weeks of his short life," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance.

Anyone who knows a victim of child abuse is urged to call the DA's child abuse hotline at (212) 335-4308.

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